Challenges+in+Composition+-+Five+Tough+Things+About+Teaching+Writing


 * Article Summary – Dan Whisler**


 * __Kansas__** **__English__** **– The Journal of the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Volume 91 No. 1 Spring 2007**


 * “Challenges in Composition: Five Tough Things About Teaching Writing” by Kevin Kienholz**

This article emphasized the need to help students focus on composing, not writing. Writing (composing) is a process, not a do-it-and-you’re-done one-time event. It very closely paralleled the “RAFT” and “POWER” philosophies that have been shared in this workshop.

The five challenges of teaching composition identified in this article were:

Challenge #1 – “Persuading Students to Engage in an Activity That Sounds Suspiciously Like An Assignment from the 1950’s”

Challenge #2 – “Getting Students to Make Something from Nothing”

Challenge #3 – “Convincing Students to Slow Down, Postpone Writing, and Think”

Challenge #4 – “Getting Students to Cut”

Challenge #5 – “Convincing Students to Write for a Reader…and Not Just for the Teacher”

In summary, to improve student writing, it is important to emphasize students take the time to plan before writing. Once the audience is identified and the message they want to get across to this audience is clearly thought out, THEN it is time to write. Doing this will help students take the focus off “how long does this need to be” and encourage them, instead, to focus on “who do I want to reach and what do I want to say”.